BROOKINGS, S.D. - SDSU Extension recently released web-based drainage calculators for tile drainage and subirrigation design.
The calculators were developed in cooperation with University of Minnesota Extension. To learn more and access the calculators, visit www.iGrowdrainage.org.

Farmers throughout Minnesota have volunteered to share their farm stories to help consumers and business groups better understand farming today. These farmers hope to engage with consumers and show farmers share the same concerns for their food, their family, the environment and their animals.

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., is reminding producers that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has made more than $160 million available through six competitive programs of the Agriculture and Food Re-search Initiative, which supports research, education and extension projects that address key challenges affecting U.S. agriculture producers.

If you’re a woman involved in the agriculture industry, then Annie’s Project may be the program for you. Annie’s Project was designed to empower women by providing detailed farm and ranch management information and build networks between women, according to a release from South Dakota State University Extension.

Australian horticulture exports to Korea have jumped since the start of a free trade agreement late last year, Australian officials say, boosting hopes for a similar benefit from a trade deal with China.

China urged its banks to speed up lending to agriculture, the country’s banking regulator said on Tuesday, in an effort to bolster a sector that employs almost one third of its 1.4 billion people, but remains in desperate need of funding.

An investigation completed last week by the Occupational Safety and Health Division reportedly did not identify any health hazards at the Jennie-O Turkey Store plant where dozens of employees fell ill in October.

The most important U.S. agricultural delegation to visit Cuba in more than a decade began three days of meetings on Monday, hoping to find potential business partners and urge the U.S. Congress to lift the trade embargo against the Caribbean nation.

While the mainstream ethanol advocates are pushing toward E15, some want much more.
Orrie Swayze, a Wilmot, S.D., semi-farmer and former South Dakota Corn Growers Association president, says the Environmental Protection Agency shift toward E15 would be a “zero growth proposition,” and should only be a step toward a goal of E30.

Jeff Broin says if farmers want corn prices back at a profitable level, they need to get involved in politics and get engaged to keep the ethanol industry strong.
At age 49, Broin is the executive chairman and founder of Poet LLC, a company that operates 27 ethanol plants across seven states, producing an estimated 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol a year.